CarComplaints.com Notes: The 2015 Ford Focus & its "Powershift" transmission has a defect trend where the car shudders when accelerating, especially when starting uphill.
Most owners have reported their Ford Focus remains driveable while the vehicle is still at low mileage, but the shuddering is annoying & unpleasant & may reduce the resale value of the vehicle.
However, owners of higher-mileage vehicles from earlier 3rd generation Focus model years report transmission failure & a host of other major & expensive transmission-related problems. Potential buyers beware.
10.0
really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
47,408 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
Having problem with steering hard to steer feels jerky sounds and feels like it is going to fall apart I am a senior citizen and cannot afford the quote they made dont know what to do I still am paying on this car also previously had wires chewed by rodent because the wires are soy based material and clutch problems that were fixed after quite awhile expensive and very inconvienent
While driving home (five hour road trip) noises started coming from the steering wheel. Felt like it was is binding and grinding. This only happened when the vehicle was in motion. Happen on the highway on my way home, later on city streets, when turning. I immediately took my car to savannah tire to see what was wrong. The dx was rack and pinion. They could not repair my car. I was told that my car was unsafe to drive. The problem started around the first of July. My steering not working properly on a five year car is a problem, this made my car unsafe for me to drive. At any time my steering gear could have went out causing me to have an accident hurting myself or others. I could have died. Ford has had steering issues in the past on my car. The car has had three recalls. One Ford recalled on there own (steering issues). I had to get this problem fixed on my own paying the amount of $2,457.70 please for the safety of others recall this, so that Ford can take responsibly for the safety of people who have bought this car.
Power steering failed on 2015 Ford Focus. Safety issue loosing steering capabilities driving from road into driveway. Steering assist faulty message appeared on dash. Called Ford Motor Company and said no recall on defective steering. Took to Ford. Dealer and quoted me $2573 to repair. Luckily my teenage daughter was not traveling on highway when this occurred. Ford needs to take accountability on this defective steering issue before someone gets injured.
I was driving on the highway going 60 and my steering wheel locked up and an alert popped up on my dash saying 'driver assist fault. Repair required', it went away after about 30 minutes but it has happened once again since then and the first occurrence only happened yesterday. And as well to that my transmission which is a 6 speed is stiff and sticks a lot where I can't change gears immediately.
While driving on the highway my steering wheel became extremely stiff while exiting the ramp nearly causing me to veer into on coming traffic. This vehicle has already has had a clutch replacement along with a recall for the transmission... I was unable to continue driving that day as I was terrified. I brought my car to Ford dealer and the have said it needed a steering rack replaced at a cost of over $2000 I unfortunately do not have the money at this time for repair so I had to drive it once more to take it home, which was another scary ordeal.. I have researched this problem and there seems to an on going problem with steering.. I have attached the diagnostic report and also a summary on previous work done.
- Pearl River, NY, USA
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Power steering failed. My grandson pulled into a parking space and a warning light illuminated. We discovered it was the power steering. Thank goodness we were not driving when this happened as we had been running errands all day.
When turning the steering wheel at idle, there is a loud grinding noise. There is no increase in resistance. When driving the power assist intermittently will fail. It seems to go on and off as you drive at 35-45 mph on city streets. This happens while driving simply following the curves in the road. I will not drive this vehicle any faster as I am concerned if it fails unexpectedly at higher speed, it will result in an accident. I don't understand how the 2011-2014 vehicles were recalled but this model year was not.
The power steering went out on this vehicle along with the transmission. We lived in the desert at the time (phoenix metro/san antonio to be exact); yet when we took it in for work the mechanic had found extensive rust damage to everything. Paid out-of-pocket for a new steering column and rebuilt transmission. Now, something is wrong with the radiator compartment. I believe that somewhere there is damage because once we are done driving for a bit, the entire reservoir will leak out onto the ground.
While driving locally and on a straight road at 50 miles/hr, I suddenly lost power steering ability. I was also notified via the dashboard communication system "steering loss - stop safely". I was able to muscle the car off the road and eventually back home. I called the Ford dealer to be told this happens and would be an expensive repair. I also researched and see that this is a prevalent problem with Ford and Chevy vehicles. As far as I'm concerned, the loss of steering capability - suddenly, without warning is a serious safety issue and needs to be addressed by the manufacturer. We are talking the inability to control a 2000 pound sledgehammer when this occurs.
The contact owns a 2015 Ford Focus. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 mph, the vehicle lost power steering assist. The contact stated that an unknown warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 70,000.
Vehicle was in motion when steering became nearly impossible. A warning 'steering loss. Stop safely' displayed on the dash. It feels as though there is no power steering and it's nearly impossible to turn. Stopped the car, tried to restart but the warning appeared again. Very dangerous and scary while driving.
My wife drove to work, the car functioned fine. When she started the car after work the car computers notified her the steering assist system had failed. She noticed she could barely turn the wheel. She called me and I asked her to attempt to drive home and I would look into it. I discovered that I could do little but take it to the dealership for repairs.
My vehicle accelerated when I was slamming full pressure on the brake and caused me to hit a store, thank the lord I had full coverage and it only did cosmetic damage to the vehicle, I've also had times where it will say the traction control is out or it has no uphill start, my model doesn't have that. I would like a refund on my vehicle but it has issues already.
I took a 3 hour trip up to my mother's house that weekend and then drove back another 3 hours and parked it for the night. I had no problems until I started my car up the next morning. A notice came on the dashboard saying "steering assist fault service required." The steering was extremely stiff and may as well have been locked. No check engine light or anything. So that would mean this happened overnight while the car was stationary and off. I took it to the dealer after unsuccessfully trying to find a basic fix and they said I needed to replace the whole rack and pinion assembly. I figure it happening overnight had something to do with the whole system being evenly soaked with heat from the long drive and cooling very slowly overnight causing cracks in the electrical components. It was a $3000 repair job for a car that had less than 37,000 miles on it albeit a 2015 model year. Due to the warranty being out, I had to pay for this repair out of pocket. Other people I've seen experience this had it fixed under warranty so they had no issues. Unfortunately for me this was a used car and had no warranty left on it.
After driving the vehicle to work and waiting to pull into a parking spot, I noticed that there was a grind noise when the steering wheel was turning. Next I noticed that the steering wheel was becoming more difficult to turn. Shortly from noticing steering wheel difficult more difficult to turn, the steering would not move at all. Had the vehicle services at the dealership and was informed that power steering gear internally failed and needed to be replaced.
"steering assist fault, service required" came up on the information panel and made it very hard to steer as I was going down the road! luckily it happened on a 35 mph section of the road and there was no turning involved, it was like the power steering went completely.
At 56,000 miles, the vehicle's power steering failed. This resulted in heavy and inaccurate steering inputs which could result in an accident. Ford is quoting a repair bill in excess of $2,400. I do believe that the problem is related to the recall in 2018 affecting 1/2 million Ford and the recall from 2014 affecting over 1 million Ford for similar steering related issues and premature failure. I have never had steering fail and have owned many vehicles over 200K miles including my 1989 F250. The technician said upon inspection that the steering gear was full of water and dirt causing corrosion. I'm a normal commuter on everyday roads. He specifically said it's not anything that I could have done that caused the problem. He said the boots were completely in tact and he couldn't comment on how the contaminants entered the steering gear. This leads me to believe it is faulty design. If it were anything other than steering or brakes, I probably would not be voicing my concerns in this forum because this represents a huge safety concern. Ford must cast a wider net with regard to existing recalls and the 2015 Focus should also be included. As of this writing there are 47 other reports to NHTSA for this car and problem.
At around 70,000 miles I could hear a scratching/rubbing sound when I turned, around 70,500 I could hear it outside of the vehicle. 71,000 miles the steering rack and pinion failed while driving. I was in a corner and could have died.
While driving on the highway at 50 mph through a curve the power steering stopped working and almost caused me to hit the center divider. This is my daughter's car and if she was driving the car she would have wrecked. I'm a pretty strong guy and it took all of my strength to turn the wheel. A power steering assist warning came up on the dash. I'm taking the car in to have it looked at, but there should be a recall on this due to this being a huge safety risk.
Takata recall my car has had multiple sudden loss of power steering and a message on the cluster claiming a eclectically steering assist malfunction while I am driving at any speeds. It is extremely dangerous and now the power steering is completely out. My cars suspension is 100 factory oem parts. With no modifications.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Peabody, MA, USA